Albania vs. San Marino - World Cup Qualifiers Europe - September 8, 2021

[CanaYouDoIt]

You just know this is all gonna come crashing down with 2 losses next month.

[RedFootballs]

Unfortunately at this point, we have to beat both Poland and Hungary and then still need a bit of luck. Odds are massively against us.

Exactly! Late goal of Poland had zero relevance for us, Albania had 0% chances to get second place with equal points through goal difference. In Hungary we will play with closed doors so they won't have their fans support so anything is possible.

It had 100% relevance. Example :

If they had lost they would still be 1 point ahead considering we lose to England and they beat SM. In this case a draw with Hungary only puts them 2 ahead. But now a draw with Hungary puts them 3 ahead and considering Poland and Hungary are far from free points, every point matters. We may draw with poland or Hungary

[ZenMaster]

Unfortunately at this point, we have to beat both Poland and Hungary and then still need a bit of luck. Odds are massively against us.

Exactly! Late goal of Poland had zero relevance for us, Albania had 0% chances to get second place with equal points through goal difference.

Does have relevance, every point at this stage matters. Especially England .

Poland has dropped two points against Hungary at home. Since we lost in Poland our only path for the second place was to beat Hungary away and Poland & Andorra at home.

[Princ]

Started off rough at Poland but super satisfied with how this group bounced back! 6 points in 3 games are worthy of praise. What a hit by Broja to seal the deal against Hungary, it will never be forgotten.

Albania rarely wins with a late goal (85th plus) and this was the first time in roughly 5 years since Balaj headed it home against North Macedonia, a match restarted due to bad weather.

Good display tonight to score 5 on huge underdog San Marino. Seems the team is growing and gaining confidence. Happy days!

[CanaYouDoIt]

Exactly! Late goal of Poland had zero relevance for us, Albania had 0% chances to get second place with equal points through goal difference.

Does have relevance, every point at this stage matters. Especially England .

Poland has dropped two points against Hungary at home. Since we lost in Poland our only path for the second place was to beat Hungary away and Poland & Andorra at home.

If we did the reverse , beat them and draw to Hungary then it would matter.

[RedFootballs]

Laci has proven he merits to be in the discussion to continue to start in midfield, as has Gjasula. Up front we are, ironically, spoilt for choice with Broja, Cika, Manaj and Uzuni all impressing over this break. Defensively we have been less sound with only Djimsiti standing out.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Laci has proven he merits to be in the discussion to continue to start in midfield, as has Gjasula. Up front we are, ironically, spoilt for choice with Broja, Cika, Manaj and Uzuni all impressing over this break. Defensively we have been less sound with only Djimsiti standing out.

Broja and Cika impressed. They should be the 2 starters next time. Uzuni with his workrate , and Manaj was crap.

[andi2410]

I think the main takeaways here are that Broja needs to be in the lineup if we want to score. Uzuni might be useful vs England away because of his work rate, but Broja can no longer be ignored. He needs to start, next to Manaj or Cika (probably Cika). Hopefully Bajrami gets in shape and builds some chemistry with the group - we may finally actually have a viable attack in what feels like forever.

Another surprise is Laci. It seems that he has bypass Bare and needs starters minutes. Going forward, we need this type of lineup:

Berisha
Islajmi Kumbulla Gjimshiti
Hysaj Gjasula Laci Trashi/Roshi
Bajrami
Broja Cika

If Balliu stops being a bitch, he can take that other wingback spot. We would then use Manaj, Roshi as super subs.

[RedFootballs]

Don't know what you guys saw but I liked Manaj's play over this break. Took his goal nicely and had good hold-up play today, should have won a penalty against Poland (although the real patriots on this site would deny it because they'd rather see us lose than him score)

Also fail to the life of me see how Bare played bad in the insistence of a few posters on this forum, he was brilliant, circulating the ball around, and the fact he had the 2nd highest rating on WhoScored despite not scoring (very important for WhoScored algorithm) shows it.

[CanaYouDoIt]

Don't know what you guys saw but I liked Manaj's play over this break. Took his goal nicely and had good hold-up play today, should have won a penalty against Poland (although the real patriots on this site would deny it because they'd rather see us lose than him score)

Also fail to the life of me see how Bare played bad in the insistence of a few posters on this forum, he was brilliant, circulating the ball around, and the fact he had the 2nd highest rating on WhoScored despite not scoring (very important for WhoScored algorithm) shows it.

I thought that was a clear pen, not given because we're only small Albania. Would've been huge , man that Poland game annoys me because it was 4 stupid goals that we don't normally give away.